Trinity is a nice add-on for Pog, but it got me to thinking what should be next. Hopefully, the Coldstone engine will be released soon and we will see some add-ons from avid gameplayers. I'm hoping people will not just go for easy cheats with add-ons that create super weapons or huge pots of gold, but instead actually work on adding to the game itself. I personally see at least four things that could use immediate attention:

1. Allow players to continue after waking the gods and saving Garendall.
2. Make the town of Gidolan accessible after defeating the sea giants.
3. Have Dernath be restored to a full town with all the features of the other towns after you finish off the Cyclops raiders.
4. Make an upper limit on how high character abilities can go. The game just gets silly if you build your strength to several hundred and can kill everything with one strike with your bare hands. I'd lean towards a limit of 50 for any ability. That should be enough to satisfy the need for a strong character without reducing the game play to the inane. And would increase the need for better weapons and spells as you get to higher level monsters. And that would lead to the need for more quests. You get the idea.

Once those four are done, then the obvious jump off point to even greater adventure and quests would be the port in Dernath. I have some ideas, but I don't know if I will have the time to develop anything.

I would also recommend class specific quests as a way to add to the game play without having to create new territories.

I'm wondering what other PoG players are looking for in add-ons.

Rich A.

(This message has been edited by richius (edited 12-04-2001).)

All of these things would be possible with a plugin for PoG created with Coldstone...

------------------
Andrew Welch / el Presidente / Ambrosia Software, Inc.
Never argue with an idiot. They drag you down to their level then beat you with experience.

Quote

Originally posted by richius:
the obvious jump off point to even greater adventure and quests would be the port in Dernath.

I think it would be a really cool idea. I would be very easy to add a boat and a sailor than can bring you to another island or even a whole different continent (but that would be a little too much of work for the beginner).

Coldstone is coming, just have your ideas ready.

------------------
Dee Brown
Beenox inc. - (url="http://"http://www.beenox.com")www.beenox.com(/url) (check our new web site!)
(url="http://"http://www.AmbrosiaSW.com/news/upcoming/coldstone_betashots.html")Coldstone Game Engine(/url) / (url="http://"http://www.AmbrosiaSW.com/games/pog/")Pillars of Garendall(/url) developers

My 2 cents:

In another thread AAC suggested that a plug similar to the Techno Plugin could be made that teleported you out of a dead-end situation (like the poor guy trapped the cave without potions) directly to the tunnel system. I was thinking that it could work like this:

1. you could purchase (for a lot of gold) a stone similar to the ones in Trinity that could take you to a room full of doors, with each door leading to a tunnel.

or

2. after defeating a particularly nasty badguy, you could get an amulet (or other reusable object) that would take you to said room (or it could be found in a quest).

and

3. the doors in the room could either work like the tunnel (only opening if you've been there) or (the idea I like, if do-able) send you to a random location on the map. This makes the "get out jail free card" much more challenging to use, cuz you have to find your way back to somewhere you recognize blind.

unless

4. someone else makes a plug that would give you a compass (like in old-school Zelda) that told you your position on the map.

jon.

------------------

I think the obvious plug-in many will attempt is to allow the player into Gidolan Keep. It will be fun to see who comes up with the best. I have some ideas...

------------------

Quote

Originally posted by mega:
**I think the obvious plug-in many will attempt is to allow the player into Gidolan Keep. It will be fun to see who comes up with the best. I have some ideas...

**

Another obvious plug would be mabe to make a female hero sprite, but I would rather it be done by beenox to keep it looking official. Specialy when I have no 3D making apps or skill.

------------------
Ecky- ecky- ecky- ecky- pikang- zoop- boing- goodem- zoo- owli- zhiv'

Quote

Originally posted by ArcAngel Counterstrike:
**Another obvious plug would be mabe to make a female hero sprite, but I would rather it be done by beenox to keep it looking official. Specialy when I have no 3D making apps or skill.
**

It would have to be more than just a sprite, many gender-specific aspects of the storyline would need to be change as well (the handsome furniture mover thing comes to mind), but it's definitely worth doing.

jon.

------------------

The add-ons I'd like most are:
1. A live updating map in miniature up in the corner. This would save me oodles of time.
2. A way to zip around quicker between areas that are already cleared (my index finger is killing me). I just started running a conjurer and a ranger from the start and it's getting tedious. I know about the tunnels and the stones.. they help but I'm just thinking screen at a time.

BTW, has anyone else had trouble using the fiery arrow spell? It seems to be really hit or miss right now. If I use the 'c' method it's fine.. but the 'v' method seems to not fire quite often.

mortea

------------------

Hello,
I think what would make for a good add-on/upgrade would be the ability to customize the keyboard commands and also have quick keys. There have been a number of times when I have lost a battle because I was unable to drink healing potions quick enough.

Another idea is a creature specific killing profiency. So basically each time you kill a creature it will become easier to kill a creature of that same type.

Turnolion

The live updating mini-map is needed by everyone. It really should be part of the game as is the case with most exploring games.

------------------

I think it might be interesting to have a string of quests that would reveal evidence of whether the King's brother (Vortek?) was involved in the attempt to assasinate the Queen. The guy is a real jerk, but he shouldn't be in exile if he is innocent, and he shouldn't be mayor of Fantrima if he's guilty. Just a loose end that might be entertaining to clear up.

------------------
Joe Burnette
"I find that humans can be divided into only two meaningful categories: Decent Humans and Sonsofbitches; both types appear to be evenly distributed
among all shapes, colors, sizes, and nationalities." -- Keith Laumer

Apart from the live updating map and some sort of Zelda compass for the main map of Garendall (which have been mentioned earlier), there's just one I've been feeling that PoG has missed out on.

It would be nice to be able to go to some sort of screen where you can see the name of every single enemy you've encountered so far and how many of that type of monstor you've killed. This idea is stolen shamelessly from "Quest of Yipe III" (it may be a simplistic game, but I loved it).

It would have two benefits. The first is that you'd actually know what all of the monsters are called (hands up, who know that those things were supposed to be trolls until they reached the bit called the troll's lair?) and the second is that you'd know whether you'd already killed lots.

Just a thought...

Spiffo.

------------------

One thing I noticed with PoG, although trivial, seems important to me for some reason. As a swordsman (I'm not sure about the other two chars), no matter what weapon I use, be it a longsword, a pike, or a battleaxe, it still shows my guy with the same old sword or shield. If, say, I have a trident (two-handed) on my swordsman, and load it after several hours of not playing, I'll go to the swordsman guild and train, but when I press Z, I don't block, even though I supposedly have a shield, and end up that much closer to death. Another thing that could be used in an addon would be class-specific items. Yes, the unique stats of the different classes define which weapons they can and can't use, but there should be, say, for the conjourer, a staff or wand that can throw lightning bolts or something of that matter, and for the swordsman, there could be a sword that just has real high damage that only he can use, and for the ranger, there could be a bow with real long range, good damage, and adds better perception and dexterity that only he can use.

------------------
Greetings from your friendly local cannibal, put in your town by the federal government to keep the human population in check.
Of all the people I've pummeled; unsuspecting and deserving, I've learned one thing: you can either run, or fight. All other strageties are variations of these. —Geglash
All the lonely people, where do they all come from? All the lonely people, where do they all belong? —The Beatles

Quote

Originally posted by ESPilot:
**One thing I noticed with PoG, although trivial, seems important to me for some reason. As a swordsman (I'm not sure about the other two chars), no matter what weapon I use, be it a longsword, a pike, or a battleaxe, it still shows my guy with the same old sword or shield. If, say, I have a trident (two-handed) on my swordsman, and load it after several hours of not playing, I'll go to the swordsman guild and train, but when I press Z, I don't block, even though I supposedly have a shield, and end up that much closer to death. Another thing that could be used in an addon would be class-specific items. Yes, the unique stats of the different classes define which weapons they can and can't use, but there should be, say, for the conjourer, a staff or wand that can throw lightning bolts or something of that matter, and for the swordsman, there could be a sword that just has real high damage that only he can use, and for the ranger, there could be a bow with real long range, good damage, and adds better perception and dexterity that only he can use.

**

The character icon only shows a bow or short sword for the ranger, a dagger or staff for the conjurer, and I presume from what you say a sword for the swordsman. More variety would be nice.

As far as class-specific items, that is already in the game. Only rangers can use bows, and there are several bows and other weapons available only to rangers. Swordmen are the only class that can use long sword or two-handed weapons such as claymores, pikes, or war axes, so any weapon of that type is specific to the swordsman class. I don't know about weapons specific to the conjurer, but I suspect there may be some - haven't gotten that far with my conjurer yet.

------------------
Joe Burnette
"I find that humans can be divided into only two meaningful categories: Decent Humans and Sonsofbitches; both types appear to be evenly distributed
among all shapes, colors, sizes, and nationalities." -- Keith Laumer

There are special weapons for all three types of characters.

I don't know about you people, but I would settle for a way to sort your inventory!

------------------
"God made people because that dinosaur game sucked" - Xbox
(url="http://"http://members.home.net/e-gamerguy1/ev/bfs3/")BFSIII Website(/url)
(url="http://"http://homepage.mac.com/rebel_council/PhotoAlbum2.html") My Photo among other things Album(/url)
(url="http://"http://www.AmbrosiaSW.com/cgi-bin/ubb/Ultimate.cgi?action=email&ToWhom;=rebel+council")E-mail me!(/url)

Hmm...well, a staff or wand that gave bonuses to already learned spells, or added new spells, for a Conjourer, like the Diablo II Sorceress, would be pretty cool though.

------------------
Greetings from your friendly local cannibal, put in your town by the federal government to keep the human population in check.
Of all the people I've pummeled; unsuspecting and deserving, I've learned one thing: you can either run, or fight. All other strageties are variations of these. —Geglash
All the lonely people, where do they all come from? All the lonely people, where do they all belong? —The Beatles

Hey,
An obvious (at least to me) plugin would be a Lord of the Rings. Yes I know there are plenty of other games that have it as their theme but I think PoG and it would do nicely by each other.

Turnolion

P.S. I just say the movie. It does not do the book justice but nonetheless was absolutely incredible and plan on seeing it again.

Hello,
If the guys at Ambrosia, Beenox, or the beta testers have the time to make this idea a reality it would be really cool: a Christmas plugin. Have like Christmas trees in each of the towns.

Also, just a general idea is to have a Holidays Plugin. This would also have like Halloween and stuff. This brings me to a question I have: Do coldstone games and plugins have the ability to react to real world variables such as the actual date and time?

Gallandro

A good plugin would be to make the character's sprite be carrying a two handed sword if you equipped a two-handed sword instead of it beaing the same old sword AND sheild.

------------------
"It's better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than to open it and remove all doubt."
--Mark Twain

Being a Lord Of The Rings Freak, I would think that would be a Great place for Ambrosia to go. Think probably though, there are copyrights that would be a little difficult without permission.

------------------